I’m saving locations in the “Georgia” section on the Map app on my phone. There’s the “No Longer Bound” thrift store, the “Read It Again” bookstore, and Jekyll Island. My top pick, however, is The Center for Puppetry Arts, where I hope The Labyrinth exhibit will still be in rotation.
Fifteen years ago, I visited the EMP in Seattle and saw Jim Henson’s Fantastic World. Behind glass were his early work sketches, TV screens playing flip-book moving animations, and a room where you could thrust your hand into a real puppet and flap its mouth open and shut.
Until I went to the exhibit, I didn’t know just how much I loved puppetry. Growing up, the movie “Dark Crystal,” and already mentioned “The Labyrinth,” brought characters to life that neither cartoon nor human could touch. My dreams and fantasies were made of those creatures, specifically imagining them sneaking into my room and us dancing together on my bed like Jennifer Connelly did with them in the final scene of The Labyrinth.
Writing about all that led me to look at the Google reviews of the Puppetry Center and view photos of the characters. Something about them propped up, unmoving, reminded me of how wax figures replicate celebrities. I didn’t like it and felt a solemn sensation, knowing the real magic was in 8-year-old Jaclynn’s potato, carrot, gravy, and pea mashup of fantasy and reality.
This is Evelyn’s world right now. Earlier, in a robotic voice, she narrated herself using Magnatiles to construct a house for plastic dinosaur eggs. Along its edge, my character, a little squishy dinosaur, could dance on the edge and then jump off onto a landing pad. The magical feeling returns when I see her eyes and smile enlarge as my character reacts and interacts with her world.
It’s an extremely fantastic thing to experience.
I hope you had a lovely day. Take care.
Love, Jaclynn
Going On 40 